The following are the hidden meanings that I gleaned for this weeks images found in the Photoforum Gallery at http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery.html. The meaning I found in the images has nothing to do with the comments the artists purport to explain the respective images. Shyrell Melara (Never More) - Barely contained within a very small frame, is an ominously dark, empty tree blocking the sunlight and almost extinguishing it. I find myself forced to lean into the monitor in hopes of seeing more detail that just isn't there. Hidden meaning - Something is over or will soon be over and the photographer (and viewer) cannot stop it. I personally can think of nothing that would devastate me more than losing one of my children and this image portrays that very well. Jeff McSweeney (BedSprings) - Without getting into S&M there aren't too many less comfortable poses I can imagine than laying naked on rusty bed springs yet this woman prefers it to the floor. Strength from adversity? Perhaps. Forgot to put the sheets in the dryer after washing them? More likely. Hidden meaning - Even with beautiful lighting like this, we're all human. Dan Mitchell (Horses) - Shyrell's meaning was not so hidden but this is even less so. In the foreground a small bird. Free to go where it pleases. In the middleground a cart going nowhere. In the background horses confined by fencing. How many times have you been told not to put the cart before the horse? How more blatant does it get? Hidden meaning - I've got to stop buying crap onto eBay while drinking. Elisha Page - No title to sway one's opinion and because we've all seen it many times before, we dismiss the printing on the edges of the film. The goofy pose also distracts our attention but the hidden message stares one in the face. Hidden meaning - we are all slaves to Kodak. If this were my image I would clone 2 more sixes onto the frame number. Gregory david Stempel (Fog in Ollala) - This image is interesting in its obscuring the hidden meaning. Even the HTML code to display the page has errors in it which obscure the entire page. Then on top of that, nature's masker - fog obscures the image itself. All this leads me to believe that the hidden meaning here is so dangerously evil that Mr. Stempel dare not allow us to see it. Look away. Look far away. Bob Talbot (Crab Spider) - Is the crab spider the same bug as the crotch critter knows as 'crabs'? I'm really at a loss for hidden meaning in this shot but my guess would be 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness'. Antonio Cid (Taberna) - See how distorted perspective is in a bar? See how the light shines only upon the person making any money while the patrons wallow in darkness believing him to be their confessor, psychologist, provider of temporary comfort, savior from reality. Hidden meaning - Abstinence make the heart grow stronger. Jim Davis (unusual duo) - By itself, I see no hidden meaning in this shot. However, having seen several of Jim's compressed distance bird shots, the meaning becomes apparent. Hidden meaning - Jim has a Dr. Moreau complex and yearns to create new creatures by blending the imperfect ones already in existence. Perhaps the Raelians can help you with that as long as you're not adverse to interplanetary travel. Elson T. Elizaga (Lifeform) - This is the image with the most deeply embedded meaning. I could not decipher it by visual means alone so I applied a custom Fourier transform (developed by my friend Vlad) to the binary data that represents the image and as always, the meaning became crystal clear. Hidden meaning - "Camaros kick ass." Rand Flory (Spring at the Never Inn) - Hidden meaning - Humans are simple minded creatures. They clearly see only the small details while the big picture is a blur. In reality thought, the details too are blurry. Don't worry about the big picture you can't see and embrace the details you can. Well I almost feel too enlightened to go on. Thanks to the gallery staff and this weeks contributors. Greg Fraser Slapper of Newts "Things are never what they seem" - Vlad http://users.imag.net/~lon2251/Gallery
